[CVRC] The ARRL Letter for January 21, 2010

Thu Jan 21 15:25:47 EST 2010

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January 21, 2010
Editor: <mailto:k1sfa at arrl.org>S. Khrystyne Keane, K1SFA
<http://www.arrl.org/>ARRL Home 
Page<http://www.arrl.org/arrlletter/>ARRL 
Letter<http://www.arrl.org/arrlletter/> 
Archive<http://www.arrl.org/arrlletter/audio/>Audio 
News<http://www.arrl.org/nladclick.php?n=al&i=2010-01-21&t=t>

    * + Haiti Earthquake : Dominican Hams Attempt 
to Install Repeaters in Haiti
    * + ARRL Leadership : Board Ramps Up Focus on 
EmComm Issues, Looks to League's Centennial
    * + Public Service : Ham Helps Out in Riverside County Desert Rescue
    * + ARRL Recognizes : ARRL Board Bestows Awards at 2010 Annual Meeting
    * + Now You Know! : The ARRL Amateur Auxiliary
    * Solar Update
    * This Week on the Radio
    * + Silent Key: CQ Magazine Columnist Dave Ingram, K4TWJ (SK)

+ Available on <http://www.arrl.org/arrlletter/audio/>ARRL Audio News
+ Haiti Earthquake: Dominican Hams Attempt to Install Repeaters in Haiti

Members of the Radio Club Dominicano (RCD) -- the 
Dominican Republic's IARU Member-Society -- and 
Union Dominicana de Radio Aficionados (UDRA) 
arrived in Haiti late last week to install an 
emergency radio communications station and a 
mobile station. Shortly after they arrived, the 
hams returned to the Dominican Republic for safety reasons.

"Within a few hours though, reports via the RCD 
Facebook page reported that the HI8RCD team of 
eight amateurs was back in the [Dominican 
Republic] border town of Jimani," said IARU 
Region 1 Emergency Communications Coordinator 
Greg Mossop, G0DUB. "Their convoy, which included 
other non related Dominicans, was assaulted. The 
radio amateurs are uninjured, but they decided to 
leave the capital for safety [reasons] and return 
to the border unescorted. They report the situation as 'extremely unsafe.'"

The team was able to install two VHF repeaters: 
one in the Dominican Republic border town of 
Jumaní and another Port-au-Prince. Mossop said 
that these repeaters have been used by the Red 
Cross and Civil Defense since, until quite 
recently, there has been no other way to 
communicate. The station at the embassy in Haiti could not be activated.

"The HI8RCD team of amateurs is still in Jumaní, 
where many wounded are arriving," said IARU 
Region 2 Secretary Ramón Santoyo, XE1KK. "They 
are helping Haitians to contact their relatives 
and friends outside of Haiti, but they can't help 
the world to find specific individuals in Haiti. 
They are receiving many e-mails with such 
requests, but security and road conditions make 
impossible to look for specific individuals in 
Haiti at the present." Read more 
<http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2010/01/18/11293/?nc=1>here.

+ ARRL Leadership: Board Ramps Up Focus on EmComm 
Issues, Looks to League's Centennial

ARRL First Vice President Kay Craigie, N3KN, was 
elected without opposition at the 2010 Annual 
Meeting as the League's 15th President. Click 
<http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2010/01/16/11292/?nc=1>here 
for more information on Craigie. [Steve Ford, WB8IMY, Photo]

The ARRL Board of Directors held its 2010 Annual 
Meeting on January 15-16 in Windsor, Connecticut, 
under the chairmanship of President Joel 
Harrison, W5ZN, to consider and act on a number 
of recommendations from committees, as well as 
motions by Directors. With the election of ARRL 
First Vice President Kay Craigie, N3KN, as the 
League's 15th President, the 2010 Annual Meeting 
of the ARRL Board of Directors was off to a 
fast-paced start. Craigie, who ran unopposed, 
takes over the top leadership position from 
Harrison, who in October announced that he would 
not be seeking re-election. Craigie officially 
took office as President at the adjournment of 
the Annual Meeting. Read more 
<http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2010/01/19/11294/?nc=1>here.
+ Public Service: Ham Helps Out in Riverside County Desert Rescue

The injured man was on the Bradshaw Trail (marked 
in green), 8 miles north of a campground north of 
Niland, California. [Map courtesy of the US 
Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management]

On the afternoon of Saturday, January 16, 
Christopher Walsh, KJ6BBS, of Irvine, California, 
was listening to radio traffic on 446.760 MHz, a 
channel used by the Los Angeles area-based Pocket 
Auto-Patch Association (PAPA) system -- an 
Amateur Radio network of 22 interlinked analog 
and digital D-STAR repeaters that provides 
extensive coverage of the Southern California 
region and beyond -- when he heard an emergency 
radio call break from Jose Hernandez, KI6PCK, of 
Thousand Oaks, California, reporting an injured 
male who had broken some ribs from an ATV-type 
accident. Read more 
<http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2010/01/20/11296/?nc=1>here<http://www.arrl.org/nladclick.php?n=al&t=i&i=2010-01-21&p=0>.
ARRL Recognizes: Board Recognizes Outgoing ARRL President Joel Harrison, W5ZN

ARRL outgoing President Joel Harrison, W5ZN 
(second from right) receives a plaque from the 
ARRL Board of Directors, thanking him for his 
nearly 30 years of elected volunteer service. [Steve Ford, WB8IMY, Photo]

After more than 27 years of elected volunteer 
service to the ARRL, outgoing ARRL President Joel 
Harrison, W5ZN, has retired. In recognition of 
his dedication to the League over nearly three 
decades, the ARRL Board of Directors bestowed 
their thanks in the form of an engraved plaque. 
Presented by incoming President Kay Craigie, 
N3KN, on behalf of the Board, the plaque recounts 
Harrison's elected service to the ARRL: Arkansas 
Section Manager, 1983-1988; Delta Division 
Director, 1988-1996; Vice President, 1996-2000; 
First Vice President, 2000-2006, and President, 2006-2010.
+ ARRL Recognizes: ARRL Board Bestows Awards at 2010 Annual Meeting

The ARRL Board of Directors had the pleasure and 
distinction of bestowing two annual awards at its 
2010 Annual Meeting -- the inaugural George Hart 
Distinguished Service Award and the Bill Leonard, 
W2SKE, Professional Media Award. The Hart Award 
-- established by the Board at its 2009 Second 
Meeting -- is named in honor of George Hart, 
W1NJM, who served as Communications Manager at 
ARRL Headquarters and was the chief developer of 
the National Traffic System (NTS). The award is 
conferred upon an ARRL member whose service to 
the League's Field Organization is of the most 
exemplary nature. Selection criteria include the 
nominee's operating record with the National 
Traffic System, participation within the Amateur 
Radio Emergency Service® (ARES®), or station 
appointments and/or leadership positions held 
within the ARRL Field Organization.

The Bill Leonard, W2SKE, Professional Media Award 
is a national level award given each year to 
honor three professional journalists whose 
outstanding coverage in audio, video and print 
formats best reflect the enjoyment, importance 
and public service value of the Amateur Radio 
Service. Read more 
<http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2010/01/21/11300/?nc=1>here.
+ New ARRL Web Site Coming Soon!

It's almost here! After more than two years of 
planning, designing and writing, we are eagerly 
awaiting the launch of the new ARRL Web site. 
We've been able to make the online experience 
easier for our members -- from the online store, 
to registering for a class, to finding a club -- 
plus we've created a new, enhanced member profile 
with many more options available. We've made 
improvements with you in mind, making sure that 
our members will have the easiest, most enjoyable 
online experience possible. The new Web site will 
be available the first week of 
February.<http://www.arrl.org/nladclick.php?n=al&t=i&i=2010-01-21&p=1>
+ Now You Know!: The ARRL Amateur Auxiliary

By ARRL News Editor S. Khrystyne Keane, K1SFA

The Amateur Auxiliary is composed of 
approximately 700 ARRL volunteer-appointees known 
as Official Observers 
(<http://www.arrl.org/FandES/field/org/oo.html>OO). 
Located across the country, they monitor the 
bands and notify amateurs of technical and 
operating discrepancies as a service to their 
fellow hams. Time and again, the FCC has 
indicated the responsibility to keep our 
operating standards and spectrum in shape rests 
with the Amateur Service. The Amateur Auxiliary 
program and its OOs are the League's answer to this challenge.

ARRL Official Observers (OO) send out postcards 
to other amateurs to alert them to possible 
equipment factors or operating practices that 
might have contributed to an apparent departure 
from a rule or good amateur practice standards.

The OO Program has four main objectives: to 
foster a wider knowledge of and better compliance 
with the FCC rules; to extend the concepts of 
self-regulation and self-administration in the 
Amateur Service; to enhance the opportunity for 
individual amateurs to contribute to the public 
welfare, and to enable the FCC's Enforcement 
Bureau to efficiently and effectively utilize its 
limited manpower and resources. The role of the 
Amateur Auxiliary is to provide an unbiased forum 
for technical and operational advice and other 
assistance to amateurs who are receptive. The 
task is not to find fault or lay blame. It is to 
identify cause and effect, many of which are not 
based upon technical, but behavioral or social 
issues, as well as to find ways to achieve 
solutions to promote good amateur operating and 
engineering practice on our bands.

Even though you might consider yourself a good 
operator (and don't we all consider ourselves to 
be good operators?), you might receive an OO 
Notice. If you do get one, don't worry! The OO 
post card is simply a friendly note to alert you 
to possible equipment factors or operating 
practices that might have contributed to an 
apparent departure from a rule or the good 
amateur practice standard. Remember, OOs are 
friendly helper-advisors; their mission is to 
assist those who are receptive to being assisted. 
You do not need to reply to the notice, but you 
may want to take a few minutes to determine what 
caused the apparent problem and then take steps 
to fix it. Your corrective actions might even 
head off an FCC "pink slip" down the road (which, by the way, are not pink!).

Keep in mind that OOs are advised to avoid 
hair-splitting and to deal only with 
black-and-white rule discrepancies only. For 
example, an OO should not send a notice to 
someone who forgot to identify his station for 10 
minutes and 8 seconds! If you feel that the OO 
sent you a notice that violates the principles of 
the program, send a copy to your 
<http://www.arrl.org/sections/>Section Manager or 
to <mailto:k0bog at arrl.org>Headquarters for 
evaluation and possible action -- quality control 
is critically important in a program as sensitive as this one.

OOs are encouraged to send out Good Operator 
Reports to those amateurs they hear exhibiting 
excellent radio signal and/or quality operating procedures.

To emphasize the positive nature of the Amateur 
Auxiliary Program, OOs will also send out "Good 
Operator Reports" to those operators whose radio 
signals and/or operating practices are consistent 
with the highest standards and are a model for 
others to follow. Every amateur should strive to 
pattern their operating and signals after your example.

Prospective OOs must pass a comprehensive 
examination based on a set of study materials 
before they can be certified as members of the 
Amateur Auxiliary; they must also be an ARRL 
member and be licensed for at least four years. 
If you are interested in becoming an OO, contact 
your <http://www.arrl.org/sections/>Section Manager. Now you now!
Solar Update

The Sun, as seen on Thursday, January 21, 2010 
from 
<http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/data/realtime/realtime-update.html>NASA's 
SOHO Extreme Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope. This 
image was taken at 304 Angstrom; the bright 
material is at 60,000 to 80,000 degrees Kelvin.

Tad 
"<http://www.bartleby.com/145/ww138.html>Whose 
dwelling is the light of setting Suns" Cook, 
K7RA, reports: We saw just one day with a blank 
Sun this week -- Tuesday, January 19 -- when 
sunspot group 1040 moved over its western limb. 
New sunspot 1041, which is really old sunspot 
group1039, emerged from the east, bursting with 
solar flares (five so far) and as a result, both 
the planetary and high latitude K index jumped to 
5 at 1800 UTC on January 20. The M-class solar 
flare on Wednesday caused an SID, or Sudden 
Ionospheric Disturbance, and Friday's bulletin 
will talk about a Stanford University project 
encouraging homebrew SID detectors for ham 
station and classroom, allowing you to detect 
these events when they happen -- no more guessing 
as to why your receiver suddenly seems dead. Look 
for more information in the Solar Update, 
available on the ARRL Web site on Friday, January 
22. For more information concerning radio 
propagation, visit the 
<http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/propagation.html>ARRL 
Technical Information Service Propagation page. 
This week's "Tad Cookism" brought to you by 
William Wordsworth's 
<http://www.bartleby.com/145/ww138.html>Lines 
Written a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey.
+ ARRL Publications: The 2009 ARRL Periodicals on CD-ROM Now Shipping

The <http://www.arrl.org/catalog/?item=1486>2009 
ARRL Periodicals on CD-ROM is now available and 
includes the complete 2009 fully searchable 
collection of three ARRL journals -- 
<http://www.arrl.org/qst>QST, 
<http://www.arrl.org/qex>QEX, and the National 
Contest Journal (<http://www.arrl.org/ncj>NCJ). 
In addition, the CD-ROM includes source code for 
software projects and PC board patterns, Section 
News, as well as the ever-popular Contest Soapbox 
and Contest Results. Search the full text of 
every article by entering titles, call signs or 
names. See every word, photo -- most in color -- 
drawing and table in technical and 
general-interest features, columns and product 
reviews, plus all advertisements. Print what you 
see, or copy it into other applications. System 
requirements: Microsoft Windows and Macintosh 
systems, using the industry standard Adobe 
Acrobat Reader software. CD-ROMs for 
<http://www.arrl.org/catalog/?category=What%27s+New&words=periodicals>other 
years are also 
available.<http://www.arrl.org/nladclick.php?n=al&t=i&i=2010-01-21&p=2>
This Week on the Radio

Terry Price, W8ZN, and Andy Zwirko, K1RA, 
activate grid square FM08 in Reddish Knob, 
Virginia in last year's ARRL January VHF Sweepstakes.

This week, be sure to check out the 
<http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2010/01/13/11282/?nc=1>ARRL 
January VHF Sweepstakes on January 23-25. On 
January 22, there is a running of the NCCC 
Sprint. Look for the YL-ISSB QSO Party (SSB), the 
MIE 33 Contest and the BARTG RTTY Sprint on 
January 23-24. The SKCC Sprint is January 27. 
Next week, there is another running of the NCCC 
Sprint on January 29. The CQ 160 Meter Contest 
(CW) is January 29-31. The REF Contest (CW), the 
UBA DX Contest (SSB) and the SPAR Winter Field 
Day are January 30-31. The Classic Exchange (CW) 
is January 31-February 1. All dates, unless 
otherwise stated, are UTC. See the 
<http://www.arrl.org/contests/>ARRL Contest 
Branch page, the 
<http://www.arrl.org/contests/update/>ARRL 
Contest Update and the 
<http://www.hornucopia.com/contestcal/index.html>WA7BNM 
Contest Calendar for more info. Looking for a 
Special Event station? Be sure to check out the 
<http://www.arrl.org/contests/spev.html>ARRL Special Event Station Web page.
+ Silent Key: CQ Magazine Columnist Dave Ingram, K4TWJ (SK)

Dave Ingram, K4TWJ (SK)

Dave Ingram, K4TWJ, who penned the "World of 
Ideas" and "How It Works" columns in CQ Magazine, 
passed away Wednesday, January 20, from 
complications due to a heart attack late last 
year. He was 67. A writer and columnist at CQ 
since 1981, Ingram -- an ARRL member -- began his 
career at the magazine writing the amateur 
television "World of Video" column that later 
morphed into the "World of Ideas," covering code 
keys, stealth antennas, building "new vintage" 
tube gear, mobiling and more. Ingram also served 
as CQ's QRP Editor. "His enthusiasm for whatever 
caught his interest was contagious and spread 
widely through his informal, yet educational 
writing style," recalled CQ Managing Editor Rich 
Moseson, W2VU. Ingram also wrote for RadCom -- 
the Radio Society of Great Britain's member 
journal -- and other international ham magazines. 
Funeral arrangements are pending. -- Information provided by CQ Magazine
ARRL Continuing Education Course Registration

Registration remains open through Sunday, January 
24, 2010, for these 
<http://www.arrl.org/cep/student/>online course 
sessions beginning on Friday, February 10, 2010: 
Amateur Radio Emergency Communications Level 1; 
Antenna Modeling; Radio Frequency Interference; 
Antenna Design and Construction; Ham Radio 
(Technician) License Course; Propagation; Analog 
Electronics, and Digital Electronics. To learn 
more, visit the 
<http://www.arrl.org/cep/student>CEP Course 
Listing page or contact the 
<mailto:cce at arrl.org>Continuing Education Program 
Coordinator<http://www.arrl.org/nladclick.php?n=al&i=2010-01-21&t=r&p=0>.

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